


A Step Across and Forward

by inkyindigo



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Fluff, Gen, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 21:43:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4538487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkyindigo/pseuds/inkyindigo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Sargasso</p><p>In everything else that went on, Yuma almost forgot something important.<br/>He and Astral had touched.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Step Across and Forward

Coming home after Sargasso wasn’t as awkward as Yuma feared. 

The only mention he and Astral made of it was when Yuma looked up at him and asked quietly, “You okay?”

“Yeah. You?” Astral asked back, just as soft. The look Astral had given him wasn’t quite a smile, but it was gentle and put him at ease for where they stood with each other.

Now here Yuma was in his attic room, like he hadn't left it thinking he might not come back. Like Shingetsu – Vector – never happened.

In everything else that went on, Yuma almost forgot something important.

He and Astral had touched.

The last time Yuma tried to touch him – well, punch him – he’d fallen right through him and nearly smacked his head on the ground. Astral was no more tangible than the cool light that came through Yuma’s window at night. But he clearly remembered reaching for Astral's hand and their palms landing solidly together. More than that, Astral had helped him up from the ground and kept him standing. Yuma was too distracted by the duel to focus on what touching Astral felt like.

And he really, really wanted to do it again.

Yuma looked over at Astral from where he lay in his hammock. Astral was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, arms resting on his knees like he always did. That, too, was a comfort that maybe things hadn’t changed too much. His show was ending and Yuma clicked the TV off once he’d gotten up from the floor.

Any moment now Astral would disappear back into the key and Yuma would lose his nerve.

Astral turned to him to wish him good night and Yuma spoke first.

“Astral, hang on a second.” He sat up, drew his legs in, and patted the space across from him. “I want to try something. Come sit with me.”

Astral set himself gracefully down on the hammock across from Yuma. His movements didn’t so much as twitch the rope under him. He sat cross-legged, copying Yuma. With the TV off, the only light in the room came from the moon outside. Astral seemed to absorb that light enough that Yuma wondered if he could read by him instead of a lamp. He shone in blue and white, like light underwater. There was only one shadow on the floor across from the window and with moonlight bleaching the color from him, Astral looked more like a ghost than ever. Yuma felt a tangle of worry in his stomach that maybe their contact in Sargasso was a one-time thing. 

Yuma leaned forward and held out his hand, palm up. “Can I?”

Astral reached for his offered hand, hesitating a few inches away as if he’d had the same thought. His fingertips brushed Yuma’s palm and he let out a small gasp. Yuma’s face lit up and he curled his fingers around Astral’s hand to cradle it more firmly. Astral didn’t give off any warmth, but there was a weight there that had never been before. Yuma found himself thinking of colored glass, glowing bright and hot enough to be soft. If glass could be that way while cool, that was how Astral felt.

“Can you feel that?” Yuma whispered.

Astral nodded.

“What’s it feel like?”

Astral didn’t take his awed eyes off their hands and Yuma could swear the glow around him wasn’t just from the moonlight. “It’s wonderful.”

Yuma turned his hand over and pushed Astral’s fingers apart, sliding his own between them. With a little smile, Astral raised his other hand and Yuma did the same with that one. They sat like that for a moment with silly and shy grins on their faces.

“Why do you think it works now?” Yuma asked.

“I don’t know.” Astral gave his hands a little squeeze in fascination. He unthreaded their fingers and moved Yuma’s right hand down so he could trace his fingers over the lines in his palm. It tickled a bit but Yuma stayed still and let him explore. Astral’s face held that open curiosity it always had when he discovered something new, but there was another emotion – something that lowered his eyelids and softened the curve of his mouth – that Yuma didn’t recognize. His fingers moved gently over the ridges and calluses on Yuma’s skin, traveling from his wrist to his fingernails. Astral’s hands were utterly smooth...although he didn’t really have skin, did he? 

Astral let go of his hand and reached up to cup both his cheeks. Yuma froze and squeaked, “What are you doing?”

“Your face is all red. I wanted to see if it felt warm.” The corner of Astral’s mouth lifted. “It does.”

Yuma batted Astral's hands away and shoved his hair down, giving it a good ruffle. The way it slipped through his fingers without resistance reminded Yuma of streams of water. It fell neatly back into place as soon as he let go. “How does your hair even do that?”

Astral yanked one of the tails of Yuma’s hair and he yelped. “You shouldn't be talking about anyone’s hair.”

Yuma playfully tackled him, knocking him flat on the hammock. Astral's eyes rounded in shock and Yuma pulled back, thinking maybe he'd taken it too far. “Sorry, are you – ”

A devious look crossed Astral's face, the same one he wore when he pinpointed a hole in an opponent's strategy, and he dug his fingers into Yuma's sides. 

Yuma squawked and twisted away. He lost his balance and Astral had to grab him around the waist when he nearly fell off the side of the hammock. Yuma ended up on top of him again, face pressed against his shoulder. Astral's chest shook with quiet laughter and it was amazing to feel it as well as hear it.

“Now you have no excuse not to catch me when I fall out,” Yuma snickered.

He could hear the smile in Astral’s voice when he said, “Don’t fall out so often, then.”

Yuma pushed himself up and shifted into a more stable position side by side with Astral. His hammock really wasn’t big enough for two people and their legs bumped together. The giggles died down and they just looked at each other in silence. One of Astral’s hands rested between them and it would be very easy to reach out and hold it again.

“Can you still rest if you stay out here tonight?” Yuma said.

Astral’s eyes were soft, made softer by the dim light from the window. “Yes.”

Yuma laid his palm over Astral's and smiled as their fingers curled together. He kept looking at Astral until his eyelids started to dip and Astral breathed a laugh.

“Go to sleep,” he murmured and stroked the fingers of his free hand over Yuma's eyes, light as a butterfly kiss. Before Yuma drifted off, he thought he felt Astral tuck their hands under his cheek.


End file.
